Turnovers a top priority for UK defense this season

Alignments like a 4-3 or a 3-4 or a 4-2-5 are pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things, Kentucky's new co-defensive coordinator said in a recent interview.

Anthony Mosley secured the game-clinching interception in the final seconds of UK's upset victory over South Carolina last season. The Cats forced 16 turnovers during the season, second-fewest in the SEC.

Rick Minter, Kentucky's new co-defensive coordinator, met with the press before Saturday's UK men's basketball game against Mississippi Valley State.

It has given UK's defense — which returns 10 of its top 11 tacklers from last season, including Winston Guy, who led last year's team in interceptions with three — a new sense of purpose.

As they report to camp on Thursday, they will carry a different mind-set, the players said.

"When we're in practice, we're trying to hit those guys to knock the ball loose and, every time the ball's in the air, it's just as much ours as it is the receiver's, so we're going to get it," Sneed said.

Danny Trevathan, UK's defensive star with his SEC-best 144 tackles last season, said Minter is making the unit more aggressive.

"Guys are diving after the ball, sacrificing their bodies and getting turnovers," said Trevathan, who also had 16 tackles for a loss and four forced fumbles last season. "He said he was going to change turnovers (numbers) and change the defense, and he's been doing that."

Minter said there had to be an attitude adjustment, a swagger adjustment, for the defense, which recovered just seven fumbles and picked off nine passes.

Setting turnover quotas was a part of making that adjustment.

"It gets down to the heart of the players, the intensity of the players, how hard they're willing to play," Minter said. "Football as much comes from the heart and the will and the want-to as it does the brain."

Last year's defense was 11th of the 12 SEC teams in interceptions. Of those picks, UK gained only 4 yards and didn't score a touchdown. Only the Cats and Mississippi didn't score on an interception last season in the league.

"The scheme we've had in past years, it wasn't really (designed) for us to get as many turnovers," senior cornerback Randall Burden said. "But now, with Coach Minter, we'll get more turnovers because we're staying deeper than we usually do. So we'll get more picks this season."

UK wants to get back to being one of those teams, and that starts with defense, Minter said.

"Coach Phillips has us on the field for one reason: get the ball," Minter explained. "So we want to be a take-away team first. We want to be aggressive stopping the run. We want to be productive on third down. Then we want to get off the field."

Notes

■ Single-game tickets went on sale Wednesday. Tickets for the Louisville game are $75 each; $46 for the SEC opponents and $41 for the games versus Central Michigan and Jacksonville State.

Tickets may be purchased online at UKathletics.com, via phone (800) 928-2287 or at the Joe Craft Center Ticket Office.

Season tickets also are available.

■ Players officially report for camp on Thursday and have Media Day on Friday.